Reflections

Just took my first and last final here at Stony. Still have a paper to do but that’s not too difficult to do. The semester is coming to an end for me and the next steps are graduation and go out into the real world.

Looking back at all 4 years of being here was that it wasn’t always smooth sailing. I was insecure back when I was a freshman. My study habits from high school were not effective as I thought it would be and I was at the borderline of failing after taking the 1^st exams of most of my classes. The stress of trying to adapt to a new surrounding was weighing me down and made tired and look older than I should – was mistakenly called a junior when I was a freshman. However I managed to get over that hump when I managed to wake myself up from my high school days and be a person who gets smarter with each mistake learned.

I did stuff that I thought I wouldn’t do; example archery and had my share of injuries from the sport and sometimes meeting strange people along the way. Traveling out of the country when I studied abroad for a month to Japan and later spent 2 weeks in Hong Kong – that was a bit of a culture shock since I was born in the states. Of course I had some unnecessary drama that I wished I wasn’t a part of and had to isolate myself from the world and just concentrate on my work and studies to get away from it all. However, life will always be a learning experience where if I put this in video game terms, more experience means leveling up and gaining more abilities to be stronger than everyone else. Let’s see what the world will bring me next.

More TANK

A few more previews:





I have to say that I enjoyed the stories that were told. Some we could relate to one way or another such as confessing to your crush and then get heartbroken afterward. Some were based on who we are and where we came from and how different their world and the one they are in now is different. Some you just didn't expect it would happen to this person unless you actually speak with them. And some that feel like it came out of a movie script. There isn't a central theme in all the stories but multiple ones, each with its own realities and imaginations that connect us in a way we didn't know before.

Opening of TANK

Short previews of some stories:

Videos before and during TANK day

Rehearsal during campus lifetime:


Day of the TANK:




I really thought we were able to successfully use the Kinect in the production as originally planned. Good thing there was a pilot show to work out the kinks and get a better understanding of what the show is trying to portray.

Some ways to improve American Decameron are to place the Kinects (2) on each side of the stage, each controlled by someone and in the middle of the stage is the actor. The two people will control the videos as the actor tells the story that way the actor will be more at eased at just telling the story through their own gestures and the other 2 will get to play around with the videos. The other actors should wait behind the screen since I have noticed that the Kinect picks up the other people standing along the wall, therefore rendering the console useless in reading the main person. The Kinect could be elevated higher as well as placing the laptop screen in front of them so they know when it is actually calibrated. I feel that the videos should be project behind them rather than on them since it is a bit distracting and depending on the texture, it can be strange if it doesn't appear to relate to the story.

Teamwork

When I hear “teamwork”, I can only cringe at the thought of working with other people. Either if it is working with people you know or complete strangers, you know you’ll be working more and using more time than it is necessary to finish the project. While you’re in a group, you see a person’s true colors and wished you didn’t get stuck with them in the first place.

Not to be sexist but there have been a few instances where the guys are the slackers. I experienced this twice already where the rest of the group (the girls) have to put in extra time and work (plus lose sleep) that isn’t necessary to complete the project. I don’t understand how they could just ignore the part they were given when we literally gave them everything they needed to write in front of them. All they have to do is just organize the info and they are done. We send them emails with caps and highlights and call to make sure they are even alive but that seems to fail.

The worst part is the professor’s grading policy or they come begging to you not to evaluate them harshly. For the professor’s grading, the whole group gets the same grade no matter how much each has contributed – which stinks by the way. The other is the guy has the balls to ask you to grate him “fairly” because he needs it to “graduate” and he’s not actually graduating until next semester – dude, not cool. When projects and presentations are over all I want is to not see you and be in a group with you again.

Just because we live together doesn’t mean I’m nice

Dear suitemate in Room A,

We’ve only known each other for a semester and I don’t like how you think you can just freeload off of everyone else in the suite. True you came in on the 1^st half of the spring semester, only carrying 2 pieces of luggage to move into your room. In the beginning it was ok to borrow a few of our stuff because you were in the transition of moving from home to the dorm. However, as days go by and you officially settled in, the borrowing doesn’t seem to stop.

I have noticed you only brought a plate, pan, bowl, a spoon, and a fork for the kitchen. The bathroom, almost everything you needed. But still you resort to borrowing without asking and just toss it aside after using it. I’m the type of person who doesn’t like other people touch my stuff unless I know they are responsible and clean it/put it back to where it was. You are not one of them. One day my sponge was used and not returned to the soap dish. Another was my face wash moved away from its usual spot 2x. And today the lid of my pot was used, without washing it and just putting it back as if it is “clean.” Did I mention you still left our other suitemates utensils in the sink for over a week?

You don’t know how many post-its I have made to send out a message hinting “ASK FIRST OR DON’T TOUCH IT.” I’m pretty sure you can just bring stuff from home or ask your boyfriend to lend you some (or better yet go over to his place). I’m only putting up with this crap because I’m going to be out of here in a matter of weeks. Wake up woman and realize not everyone will be that generous and friendly to let you do what you want with other people’s things.

Trying new things

I never enjoyed trying new things and I am sure many of you feel the same way especially with new software programs. They take forever to do something and when you want to do it this way, it either wont’ let you or does the wrong thing. I’ve experienced this too many times because of my minor in Digital Arts. Sometimes I feel like giving up because it is just too frustrating.

The most recent programs I was playing around with were Audacity and Windows Movie Maker. Maybe I was spoiled too much with having 24 hours lab access and the expensive programs such as Logic and Final Cut on the computers. When I tried to edit sounds or video on my laptop, you don’t know how much time it took to just to edit the timing and trying to figure out the effects. I try looking them up on their own “help” page but ended up Youtubing them. I can’t edit a very small second off from a video or cut out just a section of a sound piece without removing the rest of the song. It takes forever to get it right.

I hate to say this but expensive programs are better than free programs but not always… only in this scenario. I thought Logic and Final Cut were a pain but now I found 2 new ones to replace them with. I had difficulty using Logic and Final Cut when I first started using them but now grown accustomed to it. Maybe the same will happen if I spend more time on these 2 instead of deciding to rage quit on them in a matter of seconds.

I do what I want

As many of you know that Friday was the Bruno Mars concert. When they announced the tickets were on sale, I didn’t pay much attention to it because I honestly don’t know much about the guy. I even had to wiki his name to see how to looks like and what songs he wrote. I only know 2 of them – Just the way you are and Billionaire, which were constantly played on the radio and once on Glee (I actually like their version of Billionaire better). Only know one song of Janelle Monae just because her music video was shown in class and I never heard of Plan B.

The night before the tickets went on sale, I was talking to a friend who said his friends were lining up at 4:30am for the tickets while he hoped to join them within a few hours. I said they’re crazy and he asked if I was going and said no. He said I should just go even if I don’t know them because 1) the tickets were cheap 2) it’s about the experience and being with your friends. These same reasons came up from other people who try to tell me to go even though I already made plans to go out for dinner with my other friends.

Well the day the tickets were sold, I thought too long and the cheap tickets were gone so I didn’t have to worry about it anymore. On the day of the concert, I saw the line that was already queuing up at 5pm and could imagine that it curved all the way to H Quad. I took a picture of it just to say I didn’t need to camp and starve just to get good seats. We drove off to a sushi restaurant I went before and somehow we always have an adventure getting to our destination, be it making the wrong turns or getting lost. Finally getting there, we saw the Roth Regatta being aired on the TV screen (pretty funny), eat, chat, laugh, relax, and enjoying a good time. We always have a hard time trying to divide up how each of us will pay the bill because we all have large bills and cue the hilarious scene as we argue how it will all work out. Overall, I don’t regret eating out because I felt I would be too tired just to enjoy the concert and get annoyed by the audio levels. I was already hearing other people having second thoughts just a few hours before the concert started and debating if they should go or not when we were heading the car. Each of us has our own way of enjoying life and it doesn’t have to be with big time celebrities.